BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: He worked for Hannah Maynard (Mrs. R. Maynard). His obituary (Victoria Times) states he worked for her for 34 years. What appears to be Rappertie's personal photo album is dated Victoria, BC, 3 Jun 1877 (BC Archives Visual Records accession 198904-019), and Mattock-[George] Flynt Farm, Grants Pass, Oregon, 1912-1913.

The 1881 census shows him to be age 24, Episcopal, and from the United States. In 1881 he lived with his mother or aunt, age 61, who was a teacher. Her death is not recorded in the Vital Events index on the BC Archives Web site which means she did not die in BC or her death was not registered.

A carte-de-visite portrait taken by S.A. Spencer (BVIPA call number G-03300) is believed to show A.S. Rappertie at work timing an exposure.

Given the coincidental timing of his appearance at Mrs. R. Maynard's studio, possibly even as early as the mid to late 1870s, Rappertie must be considered a candidate as the author of, or at least a collaborator in, the various experimental and trick photographs credited to his employer. The annual Gems of British Columbia series, for example, was produced between 1880 and at least 1895. The various living statute portraits and the multiple exposure tableaux featuring Mrs. Maynard and living and deceased family members may also have originated with Rappertie. Certainly the complexity of the poses in the multiple exposure place him or someone else behind the camera or in the darkroom.

Rappertie appears in several Maynard family photos, some of which are found in Wilks' book.

The existence of two mysterious photographs showing the inside of a room with photo equipment and sample photo portraits, along with Rappertie's trunk marked "Hearne, Texas" (BVIPA call numbers F-06919 and F-06920), with other photographs by the Maynards is explained by a notice in the Victoria Daily Colonist (19 Jul 1898) stating his departure for that location with his mother and a P. Dearinder. David Haynes' directory of 19th century Texas photographers does not list any male photographers for the 1890s in Hearne, Texas.

Following Hannah Maynard's retirement, Rappertie moved to Oregon around 1911 to farm, then retired to Florida where he lived with his sister Mrs. Mollie Hamilton.

[S517] Haynes, David, David Haynes, (Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1993).
Neither A.S. Rappertie nor any other male photographer are listed in Haynes' directory as having worked in Hearne, Texas, in 1898 or around that time period. The only photographer Haynes lists in that location in the 1890s is a Mrs. S.A. Ward (1890-91).